Lead The Way
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: He's who she feels safest with, she's who makes him feel alive... and they had no idea why people hate it. (Set in mid 2015, co-written with Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine)
1. Heat Of The Moment

_**8/13/15, NXT Taping set to air 8/19/15…**_

 _The lights flickered black and red, startling Kevin as the former NXT champion climbed halfway down the ladder… when the lights returned, he saw Finn on one turnbuckle and Amanda on the other._

 _He charged at Finn and a fight broke out, Kevin screaming out after Amanda jumped onto him and put him in a chokehold and falling to his left knee, his vision blurring after his attempts to get her off of him by grabbing her had failed and resulted in her biting his right hand._

 _Kevin shook himself back into awareness and slammed the small brunette into the sharp edge of the ladder, Amanda falling to the mat as Finn charged at Kevin._

 _The fight continued and Kevin fell after being dropkicked as Amanda picked herself up with Finn's help, Finn cradling Amanda's face in his hands._

" _Grab the ladder." Amanda whispered, her and Finn doing so and charging at Kevin with it, the front of the ladder hitting the turnbuckle as Kevin ducked out of the ring and up the ramp._

 _With the ladder positioned closer to the ropes, the two climbed up it with a microphone in Amanda's right hand and Finn holding his NXT Championship before Amanda handed the microphone to him._

 _"At TakeOver, not only am I gonna beat you for th_ e _NXT Championship… I'm gonna kick your ass and shut your mouth!" Finn responded angrily before dropping the microphone and Amanda glancing at him._

 _Finn climbed down the ladder after a towel was handed to him and he helped Amanda down before he pressed the towel to her mouth, helping Amanda out of the ring and taking her to the backstage area, the two reaching the trainer's office._

 _Amanda wasn't talking and carefully helping her open her mouth, Finn quickly found out why._

 _"It's left behind in that ring… could've been worse though, nothing feels broken." Amanda managed to say, Finn reaching his right hand up and lightly rubbing the top of Amanda's head as Dr. Amann pulled on a pair of latex gloves and walked over before carefully opening Amanda's mouth._

 _"These things happen but I doubt it was accidental… gonna put you on antibiotics and prescribe painkillers as well but eventually to get that fixed, we're gonna have to put a post in there to put a new tooth in." Dr. Amann responded after putting gauze on the wound, Amanda holding it in place as Finn lightly rubbed his left hand up and down her back before wrapping his arm around her back and leaning her against him._

 _It could've been worse but it didn't lessen his anger towards Kevin._

 _At the same time, Kevin was in Hunter's office and Hunter was livid._

" _Just because you have some problem with how she used to be doesn't give you the right to treat her like that! Mandy's a human being, you idiot!" Hunter yelled, Kevin looking at him after bandaging the bite on his hand._

" _When she proves to me that she's even half decent, then I'll consider backing off! Until then, if you want me to stop… well then you're just gonna have to show me to the door. And how would the fans react to that, do you think?" Kevin growled in response._

" _Now I'm starting to see why you left Ring Of Honor and through your claims of Cornette freezing your contract there." Hunter replied._

" _And how would your father in law feel about Mandy, the so called golden girl of this company, fucking getting into bed with Finn and then flushes her career down the drain the moment she ends up pregnant?! It's gonna happen and she's gonna take this whole company down with her!" Kevin yelled before he left, not waiting for an answer from Hunter._

 _Hunter took the chance to close his eyes and try to calm his nerves, hoping to keep his blood pressure from going up too high._

 _But he felt like it wasn't helping…_

 **Present time…**

It was morning when Amanda opened her eyes, seeing that Finn was awake and him kissing her on the top of her head… they had spent the night at his apartment, having thought it was best to avoid all the loudness of a hotel and the paparazzi most likely gathering outside of it as it was just before 10 in the morning.

Not that they had avoided them as they left Full Sail University last night but it was an attempt at some privacy before NXT TakeOver Brooklyn and Summerslam, which were over a week away.

"Sleep okay, Darlin'?" Finn asked, Amanda nodding as they continued to hold each other.

It was later at Full Sail University when they were practicing their Demon & Mistress entrance for Summerslam that Amanda slipped, Finn catching her by wrapping his arms around her back.

"You okay there, Darlin'?" Finn asked, his right hand resting on the back of her left leg and left arm remaining wrapped around her back as her hands rested on his sides… her heart raced as he held her left leg up to his right hip, Amanda hearing Finn's heart beating quickly too.

And neither were sure if it was from the adrenaline or how close they were holding each other.

"Yeah… I'm okay." Amanda responded, her voice with a slight rasp to it.

But someone was watching from a distance… and took a picture before leaving.


	2. Thrown Out There

_**Two weeks ago…**_

" _Go on, we'll talk later." Hunter said, Amanda starting to leave but Seth wouldn't move from the door. "Seth, let her leave. There's not gonna be any more fighting." He replied._

" _Get out of my fucking way!" Amanda responded, Seth narrowing his eyes at her._

 _"No more fighting alright… in front of other eyes." Seth muttered to her threateningly before he almost mockingly politely stepped to one side to let her pass… and Amanda turning and slapping him hard, Seth holding his left hand to his face and rubbing it._

 _"Try and corner me again, I'll rip your dick off and take your balls with it!" Amanda growled, giving Seth a hard shove and leaving as Hunter was trying not to snicker._

 _"That's funny, huh?" Seth asked sarcastically._

 _"I think that means not to mess with her anymore." Hunter answered._

 _"Yeah… no more messing around alright." Seth responded quietly._

 _"I'm serious, that could've been fatal if her skull had gotten injured!" Hunter replied, referring to the fight on Raw._

 _"She's still standing, that's the main thing." Seth responded, his attitude no different than before._

 _"Doesn't mean she's not hurting." Hunter said._

 _In the parking garage, Amanda stopped and leaned against the pillar before closing her eyes… she paid no attention to a car stopping near her until the horn blared._

 _"Stick that horn in your ear!" Amanda responded, Brock chuckling and smiling as he got out of the Equinox._

 _"Some things never change, especially you on a rough day." Brock replied as he approached her._

 _"Hey, Brock." Amanda said after opening her eyes, the two hugging for a few seconds._

 _"No apology from him, right?" Brock asked._

 _"Right on the money. It's driving me nuts, I thought if I blocked his number that he'd take the fucking hint." Amanda answered as they headed_ _towards the stone steps and sat down. "You don't treat me like Seth does and you've known me since I was 10… I never wanted it to end up like this but he's treating me like a cheating lover." She said before he rested his right hand on her upper back._

 _"Whatever he thinks he's doing, he clearly isn't thinking about you being happy anymore. I wouldn't make it worth the trouble." Brock replied._

 _"He ain't worth it… and now I hope there'll be some civility." Amanda responded as they stood up and headed into the arena._

 _Amanda reached hers and Finn's locker room and pushed the door open, having to jump back when a fight between Finn and Seth spilled into the hallway._

" _Stop it this fucking second!" Amanda shouted, pulling Finn off of Seth and checking on Finn. "You need to go to anger management! I try to reclaim a little normalcy and you go picking fistfights?!" She yelled at Seth, whose nose was bleeding._

 _"Like I said earlier, you little tramp… no more fucking around." Seth responded while wiping the blood from his face._

 _"Don't fucking talk to her like that, you little bastard! You're fucked up in the head. No wonder The Shield split a year and a half ago." Finn replied, carefully moving his right hand around as he rubbed his left hand up and down Amanda's back._

 _"Maybe it was a good thing after all… would've certainly kicked up a storm had we all been like this while there was still a Shield to speak of." Seth responded._

 _"You're a fucking hypocrite, screwing Zahra but I'm in the wrong for getting close to Finn?!" Amanda growled._

 _"The hell is going on back here?!" Stephanie asked after reaching them._

 _"Seth charged in, swung at me and told me that I should let Mandy go! I swung back at him and told him it's none of his business who Mandy hangs around, especially after the injuries he caused last night!" Finn answered._

 _"As true as that is, swinging at him only drags you down to his level, hitting out simply because you're angry." Stephanie responded._

" _Come on, follow me." Amanda said, managing to guide Finn away to diffuse the situation as Stephanie turned to Seth to tell him off… when Finn and Amanda were alone, she swiped a nearby ice pack and pressed it to his hand as he saw that the long day was catching up with her._

 _"Time for a rest soon, I should think." Finn said as he placed his other hand over hers._

 _"Soon as we get this taping over with, I'll happily rest." Amanda responded, leaning against him. "Unless you mind me curled up against you." She whispered as his left arm now wrapped around her back._

 _It wasn't long before her eyes closed… Finn set the ice pack aside, picked her up into his arms and took her into their locker room before lying_ _her on the couch._

 _'If only she'd let herself fully relax… but that's not how she is at times.'_ _Finn thought as he brushed Amanda's hair back and put his Balor_ _Club jacket over her…_

 **Present time…**

 _Come As You Are_ by Nirvana blared through Amanda's ears in the backstage area as she read through the script for the September NXT tapings, Amanda softly singing… but she was poked in her left shoulder and then saw Finn, who placed an ice pack on Amanda's right ankle, which had been twisted when she slipped earlier.

"What's going on out there?" Amanda asked after turning the music off and taking her earbuds out before setting them and her phone aside.

"Dianne smacked Liv's and Alexa's heads together… after someone uploaded a pic of us from earlier, trying to get us thrown off the air." Finn explained, Amanda looking at her Twitter page and seeing countless abusive comments before deleting them.

"People don't like what they see on Tv, they can always watch something else." Amanda responded, Finn lightly running the fingers on his left hand through Amanda's hair.

"Yeah but you know how some of the fans of the show can be." Finn replied, his hand now resting on Amanda's upper back and him lightly massaging the area between her shoulder blades.

Amanda moved up to let Finn sit down and stretch out next to her before she stretched out next to him, his arms wrapping around her and her resting her head on his left shoulder.

But just as she was about to speak, her phone chimed with a text and she looked at it.

' _I think it's time we talk about what's going on and time I find out his intentions.'_

"Sounds like he's not too busy out in the Temple to forget about the girl he watched grow up and wants to know if something's going on." Finn responded, lightly tucking some of Amanda's straightened shoulder length chestnut locks behind her left ear.

And Amanda knew that Finn was right.


End file.
